Most of Malakoff was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1960 on, and the census since 1950.
Founding year: the first Malakoff post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Malakoff’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Malakoff is more historic than 20% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Malakoff’s overall grade.
Few Texas towns list much on the Register (a typical Texas town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Malakoff’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (34% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Malakoff’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The community was formerly known as "Caney Creek" and "Mitcham Chapel". An application for a named post office in 1854 under "Purdam" or "Mitcham" resulted in the current name, because the other names were already in use. In the 1920s coal mining became an important activity. The "Malakoff Man", a large prehistoric carved head found in the 1930s, resembles a carving of the Olmec culture.
Passages that mention Malakoff, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Henderson County Texas1929 · page 236Read the page →
Read the text
Malakoff was made a post office in 1881, on the railroad and was nearer to all of us. A little later we had a post office named “Wild Cat". Later on a prosperous community sprang up named “Thompson’s Mill", and then the village Cross Roads took its place. Malakoff is the post office now for this section—being route No. 2.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
mate for Mrs. Carson, whose health was not good, Mr. Carson sold out his business and came to Henderson county, and took up residence at Malakoff, settling there in 1911. He purchased 2 large block of Iand near Malakoff and also opened a hardware business in the town, but later disposed of the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The Malakoff post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Malakoff rank for history?
Malakoff is more historic than 20% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Malakoff?
3% of Malakoff’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1977.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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